House of Modular, Instant, and Economic (HOMIE), an eco-friendly home design concept based on Green Material designed by three students from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia (DTSL FTUI) won an essay competition held by the Trisakti University Civil Engineering Student Association, Civil Engineering Trisakti in Action (CETA) 2022. The FTUI Team won 2nd place in the essay sub-theme category Application of Environmentally Friendly Materials and Materials for Implementing Environmentally Friendly Construction in Residential Buildings.
Juan Fidel Ferdani (Civil Engineering 2019), Elgrytha Victoria Tybeyuliana (Environmental Engineering 2019), and Nada Laili Nurfadhilah (Environmental Engineering 2019) created this innovative, environmentally friendly design concept under the guidance of FTUI DSTL lecturer, Dr. Nyoman Suwartha, ST., MT., MAgr. The eco-friendly home design concept departs from the many problems of implementing conventional construction methods which take longer due to low efficiency and global energy consumption. Data from the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (2021) shows that the construction sector is responsible for 37% of carbon dioxide emissions and 36% of global energy consumption.
“HOMIE is a new eco-friendly home concept. The concept of this house is inspired by children’s games, namely lego. The Lego concept is represented through the application of the modular construction method in the development process. Unlike the conventional construction method, the modular construction method does not carry out the construction of the structure directly at the construction site but manufactures the components of the modular structure separately (offsite) at the fabrication plant. Thus, the HOMIE concept can be a solution to the problems of conventional construction methods in Indonesia,” said Juan.
By replacing conventional construction methods, HOMIE applies a faster, cheaper, and environmentally friendly modular construction method. Based on the results of the team’s calculations, the cost of constructing a HOMIE house can be reduced by up to three times cheaper than the cost of conventional house construction in general. In addition, the use of green material in the form of glass waste as a partial substitute for cement in concrete can reduce the production and use of cement, thereby potentially reducing carbon emissions produced during the cement production process.
“Cement, which is one of the main components of concrete in construction materials, is a material that has a negative impact on the environment. In the HOMIE construction, the FTUI team used green material in the form of glass waste as a partial substitute for cement in the manufacture of reinforced concrete. Based on the results of the compressive strength test, we found that using a 20% glass waste substitute composition, the resulting concrete can reach a compressive strength of up to 60 Mpa within 365 days. 13.2% stronger than normal concrete without any substitutes,” said Dr. Nyoman Suwartha explained.
Dean of FTUI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, ST., M.Eng., IPU expressed his hopes for the HOMIE application in the future. “In the midst of all the limitations, HOMIE’s innovation can be an applicable solution in overcoming the problems of the construction sector in Indonesia. By replacing conventional construction methods, HOMIE applies a modular construction method that is faster, cheaper and environmentally friendly. HOMIE can be an alternative solution for providing more affordable livable housing. HOMIE also provides effective and implementable solutions, namely the application of modular construction methods to provide livable housing to participate in realizing SDGs targets point 11 and 13 in Indonesia.”
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Bureau of Public Communications
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia